Boxing and martial arts are popular sports and also are often used as exercise regimens (references in this disclosure to “boxing” include the broader category of all punching or striking activities, such as, for example, in martial arts with hand or foot punches or other striking maneuvers or actions). Because of the popularity of boxing, there have been a number of boxing- and game-related apparatuses over the years. These include devices as simple as punching bags (e.g., The BAS/Body Action System™ endorsed by Bas Ruttens) or as complicated as arcade electronic processor equipment (e.g., the Don King Boxing computer arcade game which employs the Wii™ apparatus from Nintendo of America Inc.). The BAS/Body Action System™ provides punching pads disposed on a rigid frame for hand, foot and/or head punch by a user. The Wii™ device is a handheld unit that incorporates accelerometers, which allow a user holding the Wii™ device in the hand to move the hand (i.e., shadow box into thin air) without hitting or contacting anything, to play a boxing video game operable on a devoted game console unit and a television set.
Simple punching bags (even in designs where pads are disposed on a frame, such as the BAS product) provide only a punching surface. The user must resort to a human coach or trainer to observe the punching and provide instruction or guidance in techniques, force, regimen and the like. Certain of these conventional punching bag devices may be packaged with a compact disk of video and/or sound instruction, but these do not operate in conjunction with punching bags for automated real-time detection or assessment of actual strikes or movements of the user.
The Wii™ apparatus for games senses transposition of a hand that is holding the apparatus during play of a boxing game operating on the game play unit. The device is not intended or used for actual striking or punching, and striking or punching while holding the device would likely lead to breakage. The apparatus is merely held in hand as the hand is moved through the surroundings in thin air, and thereby detection of the hand's movement in dimensional space is registered by the game play unit. The boxing game operates on the game play unit, and the hand-held Wii™ apparatus delivers an input signal to the game. The game proceeds through pre-programmed sequences that deliver audio and visual direction to the player for hand movements that will register game points. The user merely moves his hand holding the apparatus, but never actually strikes any surface. Based on extent of the user's hand movement in concert with the pre-programmed directions of the game, the user may score points in the game. The Wii™ apparatus in operation of the boxing game cannot instruct the game player as to proper techniques, force, regimen and the like in response to the player's action. For actual boxing training with strikes and punches, the game is insufficient to truly prepare, train and exercise for real boxing with physical contact. Of course, a game player punching a hand into thin air is not a realistic or real-life comparator for actual punching or kicking to encounter a tangible object.
What is needed are systems and methods for automated boxing instruction, preparation, and training, which assists in proper techniques, punch force, exercise regimen, and the like, without requiring a human coach or trainer but which could assist a coach or trainer if desired. Physical punching bags or pads for a user to strike would be advantageous. Further, interactive feedback to the user that teaches proper boxing technique, training, and exercise and/or informs the user how they are doing, would also be advantageous. In the past, certain arcade games have had limited functionality of single punching surface or object to score in the games. However, these games have provided only limited feedback to the user related to the game itself, and in any event the feedback has been devoted to purposes of the arcade game and not geared to instruction in true boxing instruction, preparation, and training. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,733,193 is for an arcade game where a user hits a punching bag and the game tracks as user feedback how many times the bag is hit. The arcade game of the '193 patent, however, does not include any teaching or training of a user in proper boxing techniques, force, or exercise regimen, nor does the game include multiple punching bags for varying types of punching or kicking as would be desirable to mimic real-life boxing conditions.
It would therefore be desirable to provide new and improved systems and methods for boxing instruction, preparation, and training, which assist in proper boxing technique, punching force, exercise regimen, and the like. It would also be desirable to provide automated systems and methods for interactive feedback to boxers in real-time and based on actual determinants of boxing capability. It would be further desirable to provide systems and methods for boxing which are expandable and scalable for single-user and multi-user matches, communicative over communications networks, and substantially similar to real-life boxing scenarios and circumstances.